Hi all.  Here some thoughts answering the mails of this thread.

1) I dont think that all Mozart operas have poor librettos.  I think the
Da Ponte operas are well written, dramatically well-made and profound.

2) I dont think that it is censureship to produce an opera or a play.
Directors have to deal with the antisemitic tendencies in The Merchant of
Venice for example.  The play is art, but the tendencies are there (I am
NOT saying that the play is antisemic as a whole), and it is the directors
duty to give a comment on it.  Just to show the opera as it was, is and
will be according the libretto would be a terrible bore and not worth the
money.  I want to know what Director X has to say about Carmen.  I can read
the libretto at home.

3) I think you cant discuss away that there are openly misogynous
statements in the libretto of The Magic Flute.  I cited them, they are
there for you to read.  I agree that the point of racism is more sublime
but it is there and causes a problem for every director who wants to stage
the opera NOW, in our time.  Of course, the opera isnt racist, but the
tendencies are there and wait for a clever artistic answer.

The libretto is very clear according the role of the Queen of Night:  She
is the prototype of woman broken out of her natural circle.  It is in the
libretto, just take it serious (even if it borders on nonsense).

By the way:  that Wagner was an antisemite is a clear fact (read "Das
Judentum in der Musik" and vomit every second page).  His everyday
behaviour was different, e.g.  he often used Jews when he needed them
(being a pragmatic antisemite then).  His music is wonderful but a
challenge for every intelligent director, too, because he gives a
message you wouldnt underline every word of in our time, would you?

Greetings,
Robert Peters
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